802.11n standard to be approved today

At long last, the IEEE Standards board is expected to meet today and formally approve the long-awaited 802.11n wireless standard. Detractors will point out that "draft-n" devices have been used by consumers and businesses since early 2007. Regardless, its formal approval should open the doors to widespread enterprise adoption in the months to come.

Kelly Davis-Felner of the WFA, the industry group that created the Wi-Fi brand, told Network World that "The core interoperability is totally preserved with the [existing] draft certification program." According to her, only a "handful" of new features will be added to address optional specifications under the soon-to-be finalized 11n standard. More importantly, no existing products will need to be recertified.

Shipments of 11n equipment are expected to increase to 45 percent of all 802.11 hardware shipped for the entire year, a figure that is expected to reach 60 percent by 2012.

While other 802.11 wireless products will probably be around for some time yet, it is hard to imagine companies deploying wireless for the first time not to favor 802.11n. As such, it is clear that today will likely mark the beginning of the end for earlier "legacy" 802.11 devices.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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